‘My daughter misses her friend Bella and just wants her to come home,’ Mrs Murphy said. ‘It’s Bella’s fourth birthday next week and she has been planning a party. We need to bring her home for her birthday.’

The Playgroup Society said the Merrigang facility complies with all Australian safety standards. It is not yet known how Bella made her way out of the secure area.

Community rallies to help

Last night, local volunteers joined the search. Lucas Lawrence was one of the many who helped with the search effort.

‘Everyone around Merrigang is doing whatever they can to help,’ Mr Lawrence said. ‘Bella is a sweet girl who plays with my twin boys at the playgroup. On behalf of Bella’s parents, I want to thank the community and, of course, the police and SES searchers for their hard work.’

Locals asked to check backyards

Superintendent John Milson has asked locals to check their backyards, sheds and anywhere a small child could hide.

Eighty-year-old Irene Booth, who lives on the same street as the playgroup, has been on her hands and knees in her garden.

‘It’s hard for me to get down low but I’ve been kneeling on a towel and peering underneath my Pittosporum hedge at the back,’ Mrs Booth said. ‘It’s a dreadful situation. Everyone wants to find the poor little thing.’

Local businesses and houses with security cameras near the Merrigang shops have been urged to check their footage for any sign of Bella or hand it in to the police.

Fears for a cold night

Tonight’s forecast is a low of two degrees. Professor Heather Clarke from the Australian National University said a child could survive in Canberra’s overnight temperatures, depending on their clothing and where they sought shelter.

‘Children survive hypothermia particularly well,’ Professor Clarke said. ‘There have been cases in America and Canada where a child has been lost in the snow, in minus 20 degrees Celsius, and they have survived.’

Search efforts continue

Superintendent Milson said that the search efforts will continue throughout the afternoon and into the night.

‘We have a fresh SES team coming in from Queanbeyan. We will be assisted again by a helicopter with infrared equipment.

In fact, the dark makes it easier for the infrared technology to detect body heat.’

Of the 20,000 children who go missing in Australia each year, 99.5 per cent are found safely. Research indicates that, in the case of children under 10 years old, boys tend to be found outside and girls inside.

22 CARUSO

22

CARUSO

INSIDE WODEN POLICE STATION, CARUSO STOOD STARING AT THE SCREEN with his team in a semicircle around him. He paused the CCTV recording at the precise moment when the girl scrambled into a white car. Surveillance cameras had been crucial in making the first arrest in the Wilson homicide but this CCTV footage was questionable. Too far away, too blurry.